Page 32 - NAMAH-Jan-2017
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Namah Vol. 24, Issue 4, 15th January 2017
for ourselves. We use all the time given to The rajo-tamasic type slips down the ladder,
us only for ourselves. It is sad that we as a gravitating towards the dark end of things.
human species also exhibit this behaviour, The predominantly rajasic is waiting on the
unlike animals that are instinctively with threshold and depending upon which way he
this wisdom and hence keep their own well- takes, he will end up gravitating or ascending.
defined boundaries. Man however is meant This is the evolutionary ladder of Nature that
to expand and go beyond his limits. He may all must climb through.
do so through one of two means. He may
expand his limited ego-self, thereby living We see today both these trends emerging at
only for himself and his selfish needs. Or the forefront of human quest and evolution.
else, he may thus expand as to break free There is, on the one hand, an increase in self-
from his ego-self and embrace and include assertion, a cry for individual freedom to do
‘others’ as part of himself or his extended whatever it wants even if it be at the expense
self. Those who expand in the ego-way end of all else. It is a need for self-assertion at any
up experiencing acute limitations within. cost. At one end of the pole of this movement
They feel psychologically imprisoned and are extreme ideologies that advocate the
suffer with the consequences that this state absolute right of an individual regardless of
of narrowness brings, namely, anxiety, the cost his actions may entail to the larger
agitation, ambition, greed, lust, anger, growth of the collective humanity and of
restlessness, excitement and depression, etc. planet Earth and other species. At the other
They grow only to become less, they expand end, stand ideologies that exert the absolute
only to become increasingly smaller. Nature right of a group to exercise supremacy and
does not seem to favour this type. Despite hegemony over all other forms of group-life.
the temporary success, such persons soon These group-egos, in their will to dominate
end up with various forms of physical and other groups can go to the extent of wiping
psychological imbalances. out and exterminating all other groups
and ideologies not toeing their line or not
On the other hand, those who take the other in accord with their own. Though at war
line of growth become happier, increasingly with each other, if we take a closer look,
stress-free and thereby disease-free. Besides we shall discover that this extreme form of
they have multiplied their resources and have assertive and aggressive individuality is
enough people and things to fall back upon in no different from the fanaticism of certain
times of need and crisis. The former are caught groups that try to dominate and crush others.
in a downward spiral of more and more The aggressively self-assertive and uncaring
unhappiness like a self-fulfilling prophesy individual snatches the liberty of others
that has been unfortunately engineered by indirectly and is harmful to the group-life.
oneself. The latter enter the evolutionary loop The aggressive groupings of mankind that
and are selected by Nature to go further to thrust their ideology on to others and fight
the next evolutionary tier. Ancient Indian for its world-dominance with the barrel of
thought typified these two modes of nature a gun are two sides of the same coin! Still
as rajo-tamasic and rajo-sattvic. The sattvic they fight with each other because it is their
man is the one preparing for evolution next. nature to fight and dominate! The spirit of
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